cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/31337043
BREAKING: Microsoft has closed Redfall’s Arkane Austin, HiFi Rush’s Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda. | IGN
cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/31337043
BREAKING: Microsoft has closed Redfall’s Arkane Austin, HiFi Rush’s Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda. | IGN
These studio/publisher buyouts and closures are a cancer spreading through the entire business right now. About the last thing you want as a gamer is to see your favorite studio or publisher trade hands. Because 99 times out of a 100, the thing you love gets canned or turned to shit.
As a gamer since the late 80’s, I’ve seen many studios come and go. It happens. But these days, with these huge publishers, closures are no longer single studios but entire swathes of them. Like carpet bombing, with little regard for collateral damage.
Some of those really, really hurt. Knowing that they won’t be able to recreate that magic because the people behind it are scattered like ashes on the wind. If this pace continues, it’s going to cause a big crash somewhere down the line.
the consumer always loses when industries consolidate into relatively few players.
That last line is my biggest concern. I’ve been gaming since the early 80’s and it’s ridiculous watching all the talent and studios be sucked up and shit out by quarterly profits. After 20 some odd years in the tech industry you’d think I’d be hardened against it, but video games were always my escape from the mundanity of daily life, now that same shit is spilling in to my hobby. What a fucking joke the industry is becoming. I honestly hope for another large collapse like the Atari years. There’s enough indie devs out there to keep us playing while the biggest players sulk off to other “investment opportunities”.